title: Governance for personal health records.
abstract: Personal health records (PHR) are a modern health technology with the ability to engage patients more fully in their healthcare. Despite widespread interest, there has been little discussion around PHR governance at an organizational level. We develop a governance model and compare it to the practices of some of the early PHR adopters, including hospitals and ambulatory care settings, insurers and health plans, government departments, and commercial sectors. Decision-making structures varied between organizations. Business operations were present in all groups, but patients were not represented in any of the governance structures surveyed. To improve patient-centered care, policy making for PHRs needs to include patient representation at a governance level.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Informatics, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 1330 Beacon Street, Suite 400, Brookline, MA 02446, USA. sreti@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Shane R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Reti
authors.forename: Henry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safran
mesh_terms: D000555:Ambulatory Care Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D003625:Data Collection; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008499:Medical Records; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*; D033283:Patient Access to Records